It All Started With Coffee
by tunite9
Summary: Two people who could not be any more different than one another. What happens when this gorgeous art major asks out the beautiful architecture major on a date? She says no of course. As the art major with a secret starts pursuing the intriguing architecture major with hidden abilities their worlds collide and new forces get involved, the only way to survive is to be together.
1. Synopsis

Meet Sydney Sage: architecture student, intern at the prestigious Golden Lily Corporation, and socially awkward genius. Working at the Golden Lily works really well for her; everyone's all professional, all the time, leaving Sydney with little to no need to socialize. She's good at her job, after all, and that's what they're paying her to do.

Meet Adrian Ivashkov: vampire, art student (well...student implies studying and actually attending classes, so…), and life of the party. Party-Boy Extraordinaire has no qualms about using his trust fund, and boy, does he know how to spend it. When you have more money than God, who cares if you're irresponsible and are hardly ever sober?

As a matter of fact, Adrian doesn't care about much...until the day he sees Sydney sitting in a campus coffee shop. He's drawn in by her and immediately has to have her-no surprise there. What is surprising, though, is her answer: no. No girl had ever turned Adrian Ivashkov down, and he'd be damned if he let it go at that. Not to mention that the blonde haired beauty has him intrigued.

Sydney can't decide what's crazier: the fact that a guy-a beautiful, funny, charming guy, so out of her league-asked her out...or the fact that he didn't take no for an answer. The persistent upperclassman seems determined to tear down her walls and pull her right out of her cozy little shell-but at what price?

As passion begins to flare up between them and a bond starts to form, other things are trying to tear them apart. Even if the outside forces willing to sacrifice everything to keep them separate weren't in the picture, there's still the fact that, oh yeah, Adrian is kind of a blood-sucking-creature-of-the-night-the kind of thing stories are told about around campfires-and Sydney has absolutely no idea. What will she do when she finds out the truth? An even greater question: what happens when her relationship with Adrian brings about shocking abilities in Sydney that will change her forever?


	2. Chapter 1 - A Strange Meeting

**Chapter 1: A Strange Meeting**

* * *

_Sydney_

* * *

"Hi Sydney."

I looked up from my calculus book and saw Jake standing there with the usual cheerful smile on his face. "Hi Jake." I said smiling back.

"The usual?" he asked.

"Yup"

He got to work behind the counter making me a skinny latte while I stood in line and tried to solve the current calculus related dilemma in my life. This one was particularly hard although it took me only about a minute to solve it when I finally understood the problem. I closed the book, tucked it into my bag and looked around the coffee shop that I frequented during my breaks and sometimes even to study.

Java Stop was an independent coffee shop and the size of the shop itself was on the bigger side of things. The inside was done in dark brown wood while the side facing the street had floor to ceiling glass windows which let natural light through. The light from outside and the darkness of the wood made it a very good place for me to work. The most interesting thing however was the left wall from the counter, which is to say the wall on my right. The entire wall was decorated out of jars containing all sorts of different dried herbs and weird looking plants. That was the only oddity in the entire place. Personally I quite liked it. It added an old world and mystical charm to the modern place.

"Here you go." Jake said, coming back with my latte.

"Thanks Jake." I said and reached for my wallet but he waved his hand and said "Don't worry about that. This one is on me."

"Bu-"

"No buts. On the house."

I smiled and said "Thank you."

"No problem Sydney. You make my day brighter when you walk in, so the least I can do is give you free coffee." He said, grinning.

I smiled politely and moved to sit at my usual table. I knew he was flirting with me and I knew this because he had asked me out a couple of months ago. I had politely declined and told him that I saw him just as a friend. He was a really good sport about it but he still liked to flirt. I think that now he keeps doing it because it's in his nature and not because there are actual feelings behind his words.

I took out the latest lab reports from the test run for a new pill to lessen diabetes and got to work. I worked part-time as an intern for the Golden Lily Corporation, one of the leading pharmaceutical corporations out there, while I was at college getting my degree in architecture. Technically, I was on break and by definition did not need to work, but the lab reports had been bothering me and I needed to study them again.

I was so engrossed in my work that at first I did not notice the subtle throat clearing coming from my left. But the throat clearing grew louder and I had to look up to see who was standing there. I had to control myself to not let my eyes widen. Standing there was possibly the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen. Brown hair, lean build and the most vibrant green eyes. They reminded me of spring. New leaves and new life, a burst of colour against the snow. He was looking at me the same way I was looking at him but he had a smile on his face. I don't know what was it about that smile but it compelled me to smile too.

"Can I help you?" I asked

"Yeah" said the stranger. "Is this seat taken?" He pointed to the empty chair in front of me.

"Um, no. It's all yours." I smiled and waved my hand at it. Then I got back to my lab reports.

To my utter surprise, he did not take the chair and leave but rather took it out and sat down in it. I looked up with surprise and saw him watching me with a smirk on his face.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"I hope so." He said. He had a charm about him. You couldn't help but notice him. He had that presence. "See I need some help…" he glanced down and then up and said "...Sage."

"How did you know….."

He pointed down and I remembered I was wearing my lab coat which still had my name tag. Of course.

"Sure! How can I help? And you can call me Sydney."

"Nah, I think I prefer Sage, and you see I'm miserable right now and only you can alleviate that misery."

What? Did he have some sort of illness?

"Well if you tell me what the problem is I am sure I can help you with your illness through my knowledge of chemistry."

He looked taken back by that statement.

"I-I-Illness?" He asked.

"Well, yes. You said you were miserable, I assumed it was because you were ill."

He grinned, shook his head and said something that sounded like "Adorable" under his breath. I had the feeling that he was laughing at me.

"You see Sage, I am ill." He said. "But only one thing can make me better is your number."

My what?

"My what?"

"Your phone number."

"I'm sorry but how is my phone number going to help you? That makes no sense."

"Talking to you is going to make me feel better." Did this guy never stop smirking?

"And pray tell why would you need to talk to me?" I had no idea why I was getting so worked up over this guy. I was usually very calm and rational but here I was, nearly screaming.

He sighed and said "So that I can ask you out on a date, Sage."

He could not have shocked me more had he jumped up on the table and started clucking like a chicken.

"A date?"

"Yes, Sage, a date. You know where two people go out, most likely to eat, and get to know each other in hopes of the development of romantic feelings?"

"I know what a date is! And I'm flattered that you asked, really I am but I'm afraid I have to say no. I have no intention of, as you so aptly put it, developing romantic feelings towards anyone right now. So thank you but no." I said as I got up and put my lab report back into my handbag.

I looked up to see him flabbergasted as if he'd never imagined that someone would ever turn him down and honestly if I wasn't me I probably would have taken him up on his offer but my logical side decided against it and thats what I would follow.

"My break is over so I have to go now, but it was nice meeting you." I said and walked out of the coffee shop and into the sun. I looked up into the warmth and my only thought was:

_What a strange meeting._

* * *

**Hi guys! **

**This is my first attempt at a full length fic so any reviews or suggestions are not only appreciated but wanted too.**

**Please leave some feedback if you liked it and/or if you have any comments really.**

**The next chapter will probably be out next Monday :)**


	3. Chapter 2 - Work and Friends

_**AN:**_

_**Hey guys sorry for the late update but I'm the queen of procrastination so I don't really have an excuse. **_

_**But anyway, I hope you like the chapter and as always, reviews are always appreciated.**_** :)**

* * *

**Sydney**

The sharp click clack of heels brought me out of my stupor. I'd been in a daze all day after that interaction with the green-eyed boy. It wasn't until after I'd come back to work that I realized that I didn't know his name. It did not matter either way since I doubted I would ever see him again.

Sharon, my supervisor, was walking quickly to the CEO's room and she had this gleam in her eye that I had never seen before. It was almost as if she was excited about something and it was hard to imagine someone as stoic as Sharon excited. She was passionate about her work sure, but hardly ever excited. She opened the door and quickly relayed something to the CEO that made him jump up from his chair and rush over to the elevator that went straight down to the labs. My curiosity got the best of me and I called out to Sharon before she could get in the elevator.

"Sharon! wait."

She stopped and turned around.

"Sydney" she said and smiled at me. I was taken back by this. She was very professional in the office and this might have been the first time I had ever seen her smile.

"Hey, um did something happen? I mean you look really excited, ma'am."

"Oh yes! We've just had a brilliant break through with Project Red Eyes. This actually might be just the thing we need to solve the puzzle. How I'm sorry about this but I really have to go down to the lab and discuss this with the CEO. If you'll excuse me."

"Of course." I said, kind of dazed.

Project Red Eyes was the top secret project and this company's top priority at the moment. Only the best of the best get to work on the project. It was made to find a cure for the deadly artificial genetic mutation that have occurred to some very few unfortunate souls in the world. The details of the mutation and perhaps even the mutation itself is kept a secret from the public and from everyone in this company who does not work directly for the labs. The only thing we knew was that it was dangerous and there was no coming back from it. I personally had never seen a victim but I had enough faith in this company to believe what they said.

To get a breakthrough in the project could save millions of lives. This is really good news. The project is named red eyes because the only thing that is constant in the mutation is that the victim's eyes turn red and stay that color.

Shoving everything else to the back of my head to think about later when I got back to the dorm, I got back to work.

* * *

Before I even opened the door I could hear Rose's loud workout music. She worked out so much it was insane. I opened the door and there they were, my roommates, Rose Hathaway and Jill Melrose. Rose was a political science major because she thinks it's an easy A, plus for some reason she wont tell me but she apparently really needs to know how the government works. She had a darker skin tone indicating some middle eastern blood. And dark curly hair and exotic eyes.

Jill on the other hand was a fashion major and she was working with a local designer to produce her newest set of pieces. Jill was light to Rose's dark. She had blonde hair and green eyes and she looked like a princess with the way she held herself. Rose held herself like she was planning your murder.

As soon as Jill saw me she went "Sydney! You're back." and jumped up to hug me.

"Hey." I said hugging her back.

Rose had not seen me yet. She seemed really absorbed into her music and jogging. "What is it this time?" I asked Jill, tilting my head towards Rose because a workout was fine but she only got this absorbed when something was really bothering her.

"I don't know. She's been going at it since she came back from her new class."

"What class was that?"

"Western Literature"

I was shocked at that. Usually Rose's form of studying was having fun and hitting things. Reading was not one of them. "Since when is she into reading?"

"She's not." Jill said. Then she grinned. "I think its the guy teaching it. He looks really young and he's Russian. Plus extremely hot."

I shook my head. Classic Rose. "Well I'm gonna go take a shower."

"K Syd, see you in a few."

When I got out of the shower Rose was done running on the treadmill and they were eating Indian food. She looked up from her food and said "Hey Syd."

"Hey, Rose." I said

"How was work?" She asked

"Work was really exciting. I think they might have reached a breakthrough with the Red Eye Virus. Sharon was really buzzed about it."

Rose and Jill shared a look I couldn't decipher and suddenly Rose got really interested in this piece of news. "A breakthrough? What kind? What did they find?"

"Well, I think they might be really close to a cure but I'm not in the project but I don't really know but Sharon was beyond excited so it must've been something big."

"Hmm" Rose said and went deep into thought. I never knew she was interested in the virus.

I was gonna leave her at her pondering but I couldn't hold my curiosity back anymore

and then because I couldn't resist, "I heard you started a western literature class."

She snapped her head to Jill and glared at her. Jill laughed and said "You didn't really expect me not to

tell her did you?"

Rose sighed and said "No. Yuppers Syd I joined the western literature class. But it's not the literature that interests me. It's the stud teaching it. Like damn, comrade is seriously hot."

"Well." I started hesitantly, thinking about the green eyed guy at the coffee shop, "Speaking of seriously hot guys. I met someone at the coffee shop today."

They were on me before I could take my next breath. "OMG HAS IT FINALLY HAPPENED? HAVE YOU FINALLY ACQUIRED A MATE? TELL US. HOW DARE YOU START WITH THE NEWS ABOUT YOUR WORK WHEN YOU COULD START WITH THIS?"

"Okay okay. So, as usual I was at the coffee shop during my break today and this guy comes and asks to borrow my chair. So I said yes..." I said and when I was done telling them what happened they were just sitting there with their mouths agape.

"Oh my god." They said together.

"That was really cute." Jill said.

"Sounds like this guy is into you." Rose said.

"Well, it doesn't matter since I doubt I will ever see him again." I said

"What do you mean you won't see him again. I have a good feeling about this." Jill said.

"What did he look like?" Rose asked.

"He was tall and lean. Brown hair and the most intense green eyes. He was like an expensive piece of art, like I was allowed to see but not touch. He was...beautiful." I took a deep breath because I don't think my description of him really did him justice. I looked up to see Rose and Jill exchange a weird look between but then Rose shook her head and squinted at me.

"You never notice boys. Hell, you didn't even know Jake liked you when it was sooo obvious. So why this one?" Rose asked and she genuinely sounded curious.

I wish I knew why this one boy was affecting me so much but I didn't so as an answer, I just shrugged.

Suddenly Jill bounced up. "Oh I know! Now that you are noticing boys I really think you should come to the party on Friday. Its going to be awesome! It's bound to be the best party of the year. The guy throwing it is the best when it comes to having fun. He won't pull any punches. You HAVE to come."

"Jill no. A party really isn't my scene. I don't like it. Besides I have homework from work and ACTUAL homework too and Ms. Terwilliger also wants to see me after school on Friday."

"She's crazy." Rose said.

"Not crazy, just...eccentric." I said

"But I wanted you to go," Jill said. "It would have been so much fun. But ok. You should be glad I love you. Otherwise I would be dragging your ass to this party."

I had no doubts about that. At this point I thought she just asked for the sake of asking because every time she'd asked me I'd turned her down.

I smiled and said "Ok, I'm beat so I'm gonna go do some work and then hit the sack."

* * *

Something woke me up in the middle of the night. I couldn't put my finger on it but it was like the air got heavy. Since I'd already woken up I decided to go grab a glass of water.

I heard them mumbling from Jill's room. Her door was cracked open so I could hear them just enough.

"You don' think it was HIM do you." That sounded like Rose.

"No, I would've known if it was...I think." That sounded like Jill.

Sounded like they were talking about someone and I didn't want to disturb them so I grabbed my water and went to bed. But those two seriously needed to change their sleeping hours. With the hours they kept they might as well be vampires.


	4. Chapter 3 - Dreamscape

**Adrian**

It was 5 in the morning and I was lying still in bed trying to sleep. I'd been restless all day. The spirit use gave me a high when I did it but afterwards it left me shaky and unable to stop thinking. I'd used some of the energy into painting earlier until I'd exhausted my hands and then crashed on the bed where I _still_ couldn't go to sleep.

I rotated, punched the pillow and put my face in it. Then I thought about the painting I'd just done. The one that I'd tried to make look like Sage's eyes. I could still see them vividly. Sitting there in the coffee shop with the sunlight in her face. God those eyes! They were unlike anything I'd ever seen before and when I'd looked at them I felt something akin to being sucker punched in the gut, except it was pleasant. I don't know how being the breath knocked out of you can be pleasant but it was.

I started thinking about the coffee shop. I don't particularly drink coffee so cafes aren't really my type of place. But there she was, sitting at the table when I was walking by the window and I just couldn't help myself. I had to talk to her.

Then she raised her head and looked around, surprise on her face as if she wasn't expecting to be here.

_Wait what? _

Then she looked at me and was even more shocked. It was then that I noticed the surrealism of the place. I'd finally managed to fall asleep _and_ have a spirit dream.

A thrill went through me at the thought of speaking to her again. I opened the door to the coffee shop and walked in saying "Sage! Fancy meeting you here!"

She still looked puzzled "Why am I dreaming about you?" she asked.

"Well because of my dapper personality of course. Did you miss me?" I said and sat across her at the table.

"I don't know you well enough to miss you"

I smiled. "Well that can be changed. What do you want to know."

She frowned and then said "You're a dream. That's not how it works."

"Aha! So you _do _want to get to know me."

"What? That's not what I meant. This is absurd!" She exclaimed and I just grinned at her.

She huffed and said "This is stupid. I'm arguing with my own brain." and then she started speaking rapidly in a low tone that I couldn't hear. It was adorable.

She ended her rant with "I need coffee."

"That I can do." I said "How do you like it?"

"Skinny latte with milk." She said.

I concentrated on her order and when I opened my eyes there was a cup of skinny latte with milk between us on the table.

"My dreams are strange tonight" she said and picked up the cup and sipped at the coffee.

A look of surprise crossed across her face and she said "This tastes amazing. Almost real. In fact, everything is really vivid."

I got up from my seat and sat down on the chair beside her. She was looking at me with those gorgeous eyes not saying anything. Slowly, so slowly as not to startle her I brought my hand up and cupped the side of her face. My heart was thundering in my chest so hard I could feel my heartbeat in my ears. She was still looking at me, waiting to see what I was going to do.

"I don't recall having a lucid dream ever in my life." She said.

"Sage" I whispered, getting closer to her.

Still looking at me, she whispered "I don't know your name."

"Adrian Ivashkov, at your service." I said getting close enough to her that I could feel her breath on my lips.

I flicked my gaze up to her to see if she was okay with this and saw her eyes wide, but no hesitation in them.

I inched forward towards her lips when an awful screeching noise echoed through my brain and I woke up on my bed, panting hard. Then I groaned into my pillow because the dream was broken and I was left with a need so intense all I could think about was our proximity before Sage's alarm went and ruined things.

I groaned again and then got up and went to the bathroom to take a cold shower.

_Curse that alarm clock._


	5. Chapter 4: Nothing but Trouble

**Sydney**

As I sat in history class on Friday, waiting for it to start, my mind wandered off to the dream I had last week. I could still taste the coffee on my tongue. And Adrian's breath on my lips, just a hairspace away from kissing…

I shook myself out of my stupor. This was a colossal waste of my time. For one, I had never been drawn to someone this much and I couldn't decide what was it about him that peaked my interest. It wasn't romantic exactly, but it wasn't just professional interest either. I had no grand delusions about romance. Dating I understood and even love, I loved my family, but I guess it just never appealed to me.

"Hello class." I heard Ms. Terwilliger say. I looked up. She was setting up the projector for the screen. Ms. Terwilliger was an interesting teacher. She seemed very eccentric from afar but I would soon be finding out how eccentric she really was.

A bag dropped in the seat next to me and Jill sat down, trying to make as less noise as possible.

"Sorry I'm late." she whispered. "I have a massive headache."

She looked worse for wear. Her eyes were shot and there were dark circles under them.

"Are you hungover?" I asked. She shhhed me.

"Too loud. But no, I didn't even drink last night." She said and rubbed her forehead. "Must just be stress, I didn't sleep very well last night."

"You should have woken me, I would have made you a cup of chamomile"

"Naw it's ok, it happens sometimes." She wouldn't meet my eyes.

I suspected there was more to this but there was nothing I could do if she didn't tell me about it. I just hoped she knew what she was doing. Her phone dinged and she started typing out a message at the speed of light.

"Rose wants to know if you're coming to the party tonight."

These two and their parties. "No, I have homework. Sorry Jill."

She pouted at me. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, you and Rose have fun though."

I wasn't blowing them off, I really did have work to do. I had just landed a TA job and I needed to prepare for whatever I would need to do.

I focused on the projector screen at the end of the classroom and started listening to the lecture, all thoughts of boys and parties out of my head. I loved history.

* * *

"Ms. Terwilliger?" I said, after class.

She looked at me and squinted. I felt like I was under a microscope.

"I'm your new teaching assistant." I said.

"Ah" She said "You'll do nicely. Ms. Melbourne was it?"

"Um, no, it's Sage actually."

"Tomato, tomahto" she said and waved her hand. "It doesn't matter. Now follow me. I'm gonna have you dive right into the deep of things. You're fluent in latin yes?"

"Yes."

"Good, you'll be translating an original text for your first job."

"What kind of text is it?"

"It's a pagan ritual book."

I stopped walking. "I thought there were no written records of roman pagan rituals."

She snorted "That's what you think. Although I must warn you, no one can know about this book. This is very delicate. I hope you can keep it to yourself."

"Of course." I didn't mind. Although if she had something like this, I don't know why she wouldn't want to share it."

"Now" she said when we entered her office. "The first you need to do is get me some coffee from Java Stop. Just tell them Ms. Terwilliger's regular. Then we will start on the translation."

She waved her hand like she wanted me to go, so I turned around and went to get us both coffee.

* * *

I was nine o'clock when I finally walked into the dorm. After the translating with Ms. T, I had had another lecture and then had to go in for a short shift at the Golden Lily.

Needless to say, I was exhausted when I finally put my backpack down on the wall beside my bed.

I made myself a cup of coffee and contemplated my new job. Ms. Terwilliger had me translating this book that looked like it was gonna crumble into dust if I breathed too hard into it. I hadn't actually done any of the translating today. I had only seen the book from the other side of the room. I didn't even get to read the title. Instead, Ms. T (as she said to call her) had me recall as much of the pre-christian Roman period as I could. We covered everything from the roman and greek pantheons to the Eleusinian Mysteries. She seemed especially interested in what I had to say about Hecate. As far as I knew, Hecate was a titan who like most other gods and titans had a handful of different abilities. The general consensus however was that she overlooked the crossroads to the underworld, had 3 forms and was the goddess of witchcraft and magic.

I certainly hadn't expected to be talking about abstract concepts such as magic and witchcraft when I'd applied for the job. Ms. Terwilliger was as eccentric as she seemed from afar.

I was getting the lab reports for tomorrow ready for Sharon when my phone rang. Jill's name flashed across my screen. _Thats strange_ I thought. Jill doesn't call, she prefers to text.

Concerned, I took the call "Hello?"

The first thing I heard was giggling on the other side, then I heard the loud thumping music and the loud voices. "Jill?" I called again.

"Hi Syd." she giggled again.

"Hi. What are you doing? Are you okay?"

"Im doing fine. Great! But I'm a little lonely."

"Where's Rose?"

She giggled. "She left." She started whispering, "I think she went to meet the hot literature teacher."

My concern rose, "Jill are you by yourself? Are any of your friends there with you?"

She went silent for a few seconds and then said "No, Im alone." she sounded extremely sad.

"Alright, ok. One more thing Jill, are you drunk?"

"Um, I dont think so." She giggled again. "I only had one drink."

Ok. Jill was alone at the party and Rose was not with her. She was a small little thing. I had to get her home. She couldn't protect herself if anything went wrong, especially with how drunk she was. She said she'd only drank one drink but she sounded a lot worse than that.

"Alright Jill, listen to me. I'm coming to get you ok?"

"You're coming to the party?!" She sounded really excited about that.

"Yes. Now can you do me a favour? Can you please grab a glass of water and start drinking it? And remember, get it yourself. Do not let anyone hand it to you or get it for you. Then I want you to go outside and sit on the steps. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes ma'am!" She said. Then "Sydney?"

I stopped in the motion of putting on my shoes. She had sounded very sober and serious when she said my name. "Yeah Jill?"

"Your eyes are very beautiful. They're like molten gold. When the light hits it, it takes my breath away."

Nope she was completely drunk. "Thank you. Are you sitting outside?"

"Yep." back to her chipper self.

"Alright, I'm coming. Don't go anywhere"

"Okay" and then she hung up on me.

I hurried out of the dorm and started walking to the building where the party was being held. Rose had texted me the address earlier in the day in case I miraculously changed my mind and wanted to go.

Well, here I was, going to the party. Jill had complimented my eyes. Almost the same as Adrian, or the guy from the coffee shop because just because my brain had decided to name him Adrian doesnt mean his name actually was Adrian. Uncanny but I decided, nothing more than a coincidence. I had more urgent matters to worry about anyway.

* * *

When I got to the house, the party was in full swing. Loud music poured out of the door and windows and the smell of booze was potent in the air.

I walked up to the steps. No Jill.

She must have gone inside. I'd told her to sit on the steps but she was drunk so I wasn't terribly surprised by her not being there. I headed inside to look for her.

The moment I stepped through the door the music got LOUD. I could barely hear myself think. Calling for Jill would do me no good here, I would have to just look for her.

I started making my way through the sea of bodies. I started with the upstairs. I looked into every room but she wasn't there. I did however get an eyefull of people making out that I rather had not seen. Then I went to the backyard. It was a mess. Half filled and empty red solo cups thrown everywhere. Chairs strewn around everywhere. There was some toilet paper in the oak tree in the corner for some good measure. There was also a puddle just to the side of the entrance that looked suspiciously like vomit but no Jill. Next I went to the garage. People were playing beer pong and from what I could see they were all boys and there was a lot of cheering going on. The boy on the side opposite to me downed his drink and made a perfect shot that sailed across the room and slid into the waiting cup. His companions roared. He just smirked, confidence pouring out of him. He met my eyes across the room. Ice blue eyes stared at me. He cocked his head sideways as if he was confused about something and a section of jet black hair slid onto his forehead. Before I could make anything of this weird encounter his attention was drawn by his opponent. "You're going down, Ozera." the opponent said.

"Is that so, Juarez" Ozera said to his opponent who was muscular with brown hair. couldn't see what he looked like from my position.

The guys around them started heckling the other team. I took that as my cue to keep looking for Jill.

I went to the main floor and looked for her, to no avail. She was nowhere. I was getting really worried.

I walked into the kitchen and let out an anxious breath. There weren't many people in the kitchen and I could actually hear so I decided to ask a girl with auburn hair standing by the counter about Jill in case she'd seen her.

"Hi, Im Sydney" I said to the girl.

She turned around "Hi. I'm Angeline" she said.

"Hey Angeline, sorry to bother you but I'm looking for my friend. I'm wondering if you've seen her? She's thin, green eyes, blonde, small. Very pretty"

Angeline thought for a second. "I think so. I saw someone like that sitting on the steps outside. My buddy, Eddie, went to talk to her and then I came here. I haven't seen either of them since."

I sucked in a breath. "Thank you."

"No problem. Hey you want a drink? It's my special mix." She offered me a red solo cup with a dark brown drink, the alcohol contents of which I could smell from across the room.

"I don't drink. But thanks for the offer."

She shrugged and turned around, mixing drinks.

I started to the front of the house. I walked out and started thinking. Where could Jill had gone? And who was this Eddie person? I should have asked Angeline where her friend lives so I could go there and see if he had taken Jill there. I had just turned around to go back inside and ask Angeline when my phone rang again, with Jill's name on the screen.

I picked up. "Hello? Jill? Where are you? I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Um, hey." A male voice said at the other end of the call. "Is this Sydney?"

I decided not to panic and said very calmly "Yes. Where is Jill?"

"Your friend is safe, she had started walking to the dorms by herself and she was drunk so I walked her to the dorms. She's on the couch in your common room right now. She was rambling on about how you were going to be so worried about her so she called you but then she passed out before you picked up. So, yeah."

I let out a breath. For some reason, I felt I could trust Eddie. "Thank you" I said.

"No problem at all. It's not safe to walk alone this late at night. It was no big deal."

"Either way, I really appreciate it. I'm heading to the dorms right now. Would you mind staying with her while I walk there? It will take me 10 minutes max."

"I wouldn't mind at all" Eddie said. "See you in 10 minutes."

I hung up. I also breathed a little easier.

"Sage?" A voice said behind me.

I turned around and found smiling bright green eyes looking at me.

It was the boy from the coffee shop. The one my brain had decided to name Adrian.

* * *

**_AN:_**

**_Hey guys! _**

**_I know this story is slow going but its getting where I want it to go. Slowly but surely._**

**_As always, reviews are very much wanted. Good or bad IDC. _**

**_Until next time!_**


	6. Chapter 5: A Walk to Remember

**_Sydney_**

"Hi" I said.

He grinned. "I knew you couldn't stay away from me." he said.

I didn't know what to say to that. My heart had suddenly decided to go haywire on me.

"Um..." I started but he interrupted before I could say anything. "Would you like a drink?"

That snapped me out of my funk. "No thanks. I really need to go."

I turned around to go when I felt a hand on my wrist. "Wait, Sage. Stay. I'd like to talk."

I looked at him. He was looking at me with an earnest, open look. I really wanted to stay, but...

"I'm sorry, I really have to go. My friend Jill got drunk and needs me. I have to get back to the dorm."

At Jill's name his eyes had glazed over and he looked almost...guilty. But he couldn't possibly know Jill. And I don't know why I was explaining myself to him but for some reason I didn't want him to think that I was blowing him off. For some reason I didn't want to blow him off. But Eddie was waiting for me at the dorm and I needed to go.

I opened my mouth to say goodbye when the front door opened and the boy with the ice blue eyes - Ozera - poked his head out and bellowed "Hey, Ivashkov," the boy from the coffee shop turned around, "Angeline is raiding your booze closet, just thought I'd let you know. Also, Ralf and Jesse are here. I assume they weren't invited?"

"No. They'd been warned to never show up to my parties again." Ivashkov said. He sighed. "Can you take care of it for me this time Christian?"

Christian looked at me and then at Ivashkov and then back at me and said "Sure. But you'll owe me one." Then he grinned and I felt sorry for whoever these Jesse and Ralf were. Christian looked like someone had just given him a free for all pass. I saw sparks in my peripheral and looked down just in time to see them disappear in Christian's hands. That couldn't be right. The long day was finally catching up to me. That was the only explanation.

"Please don't burn my house down." Ivashkov said.

"I don't make any promises." Christian said and headed back inside.

Ivashkov gave a long suffering sigh and turned back to me and said "Where were we, Sage?"

"I was just leaving." I said.

"Right. You don't mind if I walk you to your dorm do you?"

"You don't have to. It's fine. I can get there myself."

"Please Sage, I insist." he said and came to stand next to me. He had a soft smile on his face.

"Okay." I said and started walking.

We walked in comfortable silence from the front of the house to the street while I tried to figure out what was bothering me. Something was nagging at me. Something I needed to remember. If only I could name it...

Wait a second.

Name.

Christian had called coffee house guy Ivashkov. The same name that coffee guy had called himself in my dream. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. That couldn't be right. That's way too big a coincidence, given that Ivashkov is not a common name at all.

He walked two steps before realizing that I had stopped and then turned around and faced me. "Sage, is something wrong?"

"No," I said. "I just never caught your name."

He grinned and said "Sure you did. I got you a skinny latte with milk and then I introduced myself."

"No, you sat across from me, talked to me and asked me my number."

"Ah but that was our first meeting. I'm talking about our second one."

I stared at him "This is our second meeting."

He winked at me "Is it?"

He couldn't possibly talking about the dream. That was a dream. A manifest of my imagination. But he knew my coffee order which I had only told him in my dream. This was beyond strange.

He sighed "You wound me, Sage. Here, I'll introduce myself again, Adrian Ivashkov, at your service." he said and bowed at the waist.

I stood there, flabbergasted. The same name as the one in the dream.

_Am I dreaming again?_

I felt a pinch on my arm. "No you're not dreaming."

Seems like I had spoken out loud. "You pinched me!" I said, shocked.

"Well, you thought you we're dreaming and you're not. I know I'm dreamy and my looks are perfect but I can assure you, I am very much real." He winked at me.

I couldn't help it. I laughed.

He smiled wider. "You should laugh more often. It's a wonderful sound."

I smiled and looked at him. He was looking at me. His eyes were soft and even in the dark they were glinting as if there was an inner light in them. It made them look like dark emeralds. Beautiful.

I cleared my throat and looked away. "You seem awfully sure of yourself." I said.

"Sage! Please, I am but a humble man." Adrian said and put a hand over his heart. "Also, I have a great personality."

I laughed again and shook my head.

"So, that was your party?" I asked after a while.

"Yeah," he said. "I was just making rounds when I saw you outside and came to say hello. I didn't think that I would see you at my party though."

"You wouldn't," I said "I was there because my roommate, Jill, called me and she sounded very drunk so I came to pick her up. But by the time I got there someone had already taken her to the dorm, so I was just about to leave when you came out."

"So you live on campus then?"

"Yes. With my roommates, Jill and Rose."

He looked taken back by their names, "Do you know them?" I asked.

"In a manner of speaking." he said and looked lost in thought.

I was okay to walk in silence but for some reason I wanted to know more about him. "What do you study?" I asked.

He looked startled. "Um, currently I'm an art major."

"Currently?"

He winced "Yep, this is my third switch in 3 years. First, I was in political science because my father wanted me to take over the...family business. But I never felt it, so I switched out, much to his chagrin, to biology. Then realized that I have no scientific talent whatsoever, so I switched to art. So far, I haven't had any problems with art. But we will see how that goes. Maybe I'll fail in that too." He sounded bitter suddenly.

The urge to reassure him struck me hard. "Hey," I said, "There is nothing wrong with trying to figure out where you fit and what fits you. For some people, it's as natural as breathing, they know what they want to be and where they want to be. For other people it's not as clear and that's ok. Everybody's allowed to make mistakes. As long as they don't ruin your life. So, I guess what I'm saying is that it's okay if you take your time to figure out what you want to do in life."

He stared at me and said so quietly that I almost didn't hear him. "What if you don't know what you want to do in life? What if there's nothing you can do?"

"That's not true." I said. He looked up, surprised. I don't think he meant to say that out loud.

"I believe that there is a reason for most things." I continued. "I believe that there is something you are here for and you will figure that out. And there is always something. Even if it's very small and even if people think that it's nothing. Everybody's nothing is somebody's something. So, there is a place for everyone. There is one for you too."

He looked at me, shocked and then cleared his throat and looked away.

"You give good advice, Sage." he said, clearly uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." I said.

"No, it's not that. It's just. It's been a while since someone stood up for me." He was looking straight ahead.

I reached out and touched his arm. He seemed to gather himself and gave me another one of those heart stopping smiles. "Thank you, Sage. I think I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome, Adrian."

He smiled wider.

"What?" I asked.

"That's the first time you've said my name out loud. It's nice."

I shook my head and said "You're strange."

"No," he said "I'm charming."

I smiled. Looks like the heavy conversation was done. He seemed his usual self again but I was worried with what he'd told me.

"You haven't told me what you study." he said.

"I'm doing a double major in chemistry and architecture." I said.

He whistled. "You didn't tell me you were a genius, Sage."

I shook my head. "I'm not. I just enjoy them."

We walked around the bend and there was the dorm in front of me.

"Well," I said, once we were right outside the front door. "Thanks for walking me home."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Sage, if you think that I came all this way just so that I could drop you off here then you are wrong. I'm gonna stick to you until you're safely inside your apartment."

"But," I started and he said "No buts. I want to see that you made it safely inside."

There was nothing I could say to that really, so I unlocked the front door and walked upstairs to the 3rd floor where Rose, Jill and I shared an apartment style suite.

I unlocked the door and a boy with sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes turned around from where he was sitting on the ground by the couch where Jill was sleeping.

He got up and walked to me. "You must be Sydney." he said and held out a hand.

I shook his hand and said "I am. And you're Eddie. Thanks for bringing Jill home."

"No problem at all. It's my duty." He said. I found his choice of words strange but as long as Jill was okay, that's all that mattered.

Eddie seemed to realize that I hadn't come alone to the apartment. His eyes moved behind me and he looked taken back. "Adrian, what are you doing here?"

I looked from one boy to the other. "Do you guys know each other?" I asked.

"Yeah. We go a ways back." Adrian said. His eyes moved to Jill and his gaze seemed to soften with concern. "Is she okay?"

Eddie went still at that. "Yeah she's fine. She was drunk. Even though she didn't drink more than 2 beers." He looked at Adrian meaningfully. There was something there but I was too exhausted right now to figure out what.

Adrian looked guilty all of a sudden. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. Okay then.

The long day and all the excitement caught up to me all at once and I was suddenly very tired.

"Eddie thanks for bringing Jill home and staying with her until I got here. And Adrian, thanks for walking me home."

"No problem." they both said at once.

"You look tired. We'll get out of your hair." Eddie said and moved towards the door. "Come on, I'll walk you to the house." he said to Adrian. "I need to talk to you anyways."

Adrian looked at Jill and then looked at me. "I'll see you soon, Sage," he said and then smiled at me.

He walked out and Eddie walked out after him, closing the door.

There was some tension between those two, if I wasn't wrong.

I went and knelt next to Jill and softly said her name.

She opened her eyes just a smidgen.

"Hey," I said. "Let's get you to bed. Come on."

I put an arm under her and lifted. "Okay" she said and we started towards her room.

I walked her to bed and tucked her in. "Don't sleep yet, I'll be right back" I said and went to the kitchen to grab a pitcher of water and a glass.

I walked back into the room and made her drink two whole glasses of water.

"The water is going to keep you from being hungover in the morning." I told her and moved to leave.

She held my fingers. "Thank you Sydney."

"You're welcome, Jill. Now sleep."

She was asleep before I made it out of the room.

I went to my room and got ready for bed. I was ready for sleep. It had been a long day. I wondered if I would dream about Adrian again.

My eyes snapped open. I'd gotten distracted before but how did he know about my dream from before? His name was exactly what dream Adrian had told me. I tried to reason it out but I had no answers to how he would know about it, unless we shared the dream.

Ridiculous. Shared dreams are fictional. No, there was a reasonable explanation to why I had dreamt about his name. Maybe I had seen his name that day at Java Stop and I juts hadn't realized that it was there and then later on I just connected the dots while unconscious.

But that still didn't explain how he knew about it...

* * *

_**A/N:**_

_**Hey guys!**_

_**I've had a sudden surge of productivity which is why there's been two updates in two weeks. **_

**_As usual. Reviews are awesome and I always want them. You guys are the ones that make this story worth writing so your input always matters. _**

**_There's gonna be a few more chapters until we get to the heart of the conflict here but those chapters will be filled with groundwork, so just bear? bare? (I can't figure out which one) with me. _**

**_Until next time!_**


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